Pueblo Chieftain, on voter citizenship verification

Journal-Advocate staff

Posted:
08/17/2012 10:34:47 AM MDT

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has been awaiting final permission from the Department of Homeland Security to check the citizenship of about 5,000 Colorado residents who are registered to vote but indicated on their driving records they are not U.S. citizens.

It's against the law for non-citizens to vote in this country. Mr. Gessler's motivation is not to seek prosecution at this point, merely to weed out non-citizens from the state's voter rolls.

Homeland Security originally balked at providing the information Mr. Gessler has been seeking, but it recanted after being threatened with a lawsuit by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

Mr. Gessler says that many on the list of 5,000 probably registered to vote without knowing they needed to be U.S. citizens. "Many of these cases are probably simple ignorance of the law because they identified themselves on their driving records as non-citizens. We also know about 2,000 did vote in recent elections."

To vote illegally this way bars people from ever becoming U.S. citizens, which is the goal of many who come to this country. So if they are registered but have not voted, it's in their interest to have their names purged.

Mr. Gessler said that, once the Homeland Security list is reviewed, "We'll send people a letter telling them what our search has determined and give them an opportunity to prove their citizenship if they are legal voters. They can also withdraw their names from voter registration.

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He said that when North Carolina did that, about a third of the identified voters didn't respond to any request to clarify their status and their names were purged from the rolls.

The right to vote in this nation's elections has been paid for with blood. To have people not legally eligible to assume that right can negate votes of our citizens.

RE-1 Valley School District has announced its policy for determining eligibility of children who may receive free and reduced price meals served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program.
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